


Real Hearts Don't Lie (Take it From Me)

by CycloneRachel



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: (lena is mentioned), Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Heavy Angst, Short One Shot, Tears, season 5 speculation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-19
Updated: 2019-09-19
Packaged: 2020-10-21 12:15:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20693369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CycloneRachel/pseuds/CycloneRachel
Summary: from an anonymous tumblr prompt: “Your eyes are red… Were you crying?” “Please let me help.” Querl finds Kara crying after the fight with Lena"





	Real Hearts Don't Lie (Take it From Me)

Querl knows Kara doesn’t like people seeing her vulnerable.

She’s like Alex, in that aspect. They’re both women of steel, in a way, carrying the weight and expectations of their worlds on their shoulders, and their responsibilities are the same- to make sure they don’t fall. And in accordance with that, they can’t let people see any cracks in their resolve.

But Atlas couldn’t hold the sky up forever, and so neither could Kara, in a metaphorical sense.

Which was why, when Querl finds Kara crying in his chair in the DEO right before her Pulitzer ceremony, tears threatening to spill onto her new dress, he pays attention.

“H-hey, Brainy.” Kara says, wiping her eyes, as he pretends not to have seen anything. “You ready to go?”

“You do not need to give me a ride, Kara.” Querl answers. “I can fly. Or I can ask Alex-“

Kara reaches out and takes his wrist, eyes focusing on the Legion ring first before looking up into his eyes.

“No.” she says. She has to be strong. She’s an _inspiration_\- to Brainy, too. She can’t just break down like this. Or let-

Well, she doesn’t think she’ll have to worry about her anymore, at least for the moment.

“Stay here.” Kara continues. “I’ll be fine… I just… don’t want to be alone right now.”

“You don’t?” Querl asks. “I would have thought the opposite.”

“No, no, whenever this happened to me as a kid, my mom or dad or Aunt Astra would always want to talk it through. _El Mayarah_, right?” she says, forcing out a laugh, even though it’s only ironic to her.

“Yes, I know that’s quite important for you.” Querl says. “And I’m glad for it.”

Kara resolves to ask him, one day, about his own background- how he came to join the Legion, what made him want to be a hero in the first place. She’s sure it would be a fascinating story, and she knows she’d be invested… if she wasn’t here, if things weren’t like this.

“Yeah.” She says. “And it’s stayed like that. Talking with others… Alex, and J’onn, and Cat and James and Winn… even Sam for a while… and you…”

_I’ve lost so much. I can’t lose her yet._

_Even though she thinks she’s lost us, too…_

Querl nods, understanding.

“But not Lena.”

“I did everything I could.” Kara says. “I was always there for her. I tried… I let her lean on my shoulder, through whatever she went through… I held her hand, I hugged her, I stood up for her when things were at their worst. I thought she’d do the same for me. I kept my secret from her to protect her. Because I didn’t want to hurt her. And to protect myself, I guess… but she still…”

“She what?”

Kara lets out a long, shuddering breath, sighing as she looks down at the ground, and Querl sits next to her.

“She thinks _I_ betrayed _her_.” She says. “She’s blaming me.”

“Oh.”

_I’m sorry doesn’t seem enough for this situation_, he thinks. So instead, he stays by her side, silently letting her go on.

“What am I supposed to do, Brainy?” Kara asks. “Whatever I say, she’ll just twist it against me. She’s going to set herself up as the victim. To her, Supergirl is a villain… and to _hell_ with _Kara Danvers_…”

Querl sighs, reaching over to place a hand on her shoulder.

“If I may.” He says. “When I came in, I noticed your eyes were red. Were you crying?”

Kara nods, and with his hand still on her shoulder and her hand on his wrist, they stand up together.

Then, after they both let go of one another, she hugs him, tears flowing freely.

(She’s just glad he’s still in his uniform. She doesn’t think she would’ve done this if he’d been in a more formal outfit… okay, she might’ve still cried. But nevertheless, she’s grateful that he’s here at all, holding her steady, warm like an online computer. But also like a person, with or without an AI core. Like a friend, who’s never let her down, who’s already sharing this burden with her…)

(what burdens hasn’t he shared with her, she wonders? What could he have hiding, that he could talk with her about? Or that he doesn’t want to share… she knows she needs to remember that, too. And she will.)

“Thanks.” She whispers.

“It is no problem.” Querl answers. “Please, let me help.”

“You already are.”

“Then I will continue to do so.” He says. “And… for the record, you did nothing wrong.”

“I did?”

Querl nods, continuing to hold her. “Lena is complicated. At this moment, she is on a crossroads of destiny, so to speak… she must choose which path to take. She has always needed to choose, as have we all, but this- this is different. You have helped her so much in the past three years you two have known one another, and though I know her path, she does not. And at this point, your role is what it has been- to stand strong, and to hope. Hope that, as you continue, she will hear you out, and recognize what she has done to hurt you. And that you will be able to save her- that she will find the need to ask for help, and gradually save herself.”

“And if she doesn’t?”

_Lena’s like Astra,_ she thinks. _And I’m my mom…_

“Oh Rao. I don’t want to put her in the Phantom Zone.”

“You may not have to.” Querl says, ignoring her non sequitur. “But, whatever you decide, I will support it.”

“Even though Lena’s your friend too?”

“Especially for that reason.” Querl answers. “After all, I was once on a similar path. I felt as though I had been betrayed… but there was hope for me. And when you feel as though you may not have any hope left…”

_We’re not talking about Lena anymore._

“I will be here in those situations, as well. You do not have to pretend anything, around me.”

“That’s good to know.” Kara says. “Thank you. And, you don’t have to pretend either.”

“It is my pleasure.” Querl answers. “As to your second point… I will consider that. Thank you. Now. Shall we?”

He clears his throat.

“Um. If you are ready, of course.”

Kara pulls away, and takes his hand instead, their fingers interlocking like it’s second nature.

_Let me help you too,_ she thinks, hoping the hug comforted him as much as it did for her.

“I am now.”


End file.
